A Telescope to See the Stars
by berry-cool
Summary: A requested tale by other readers, where for the very first time Kes encounters someone he's heard an awful lot about... Part of the Rogue One: Encore series.


Kes looked down at the list in his hands. He sighed and shook his head. At times like this he wished that Shara was about: it wasn't that he couldn't deal with logic, or was an illogical person by any means, but she had this special kind of way of ensuring everything made sense, even things that he couldn't wrap his head around in a million years. He folded up the list and shoved it in his pocket.

He made a beeline over to the X-Wing, one of several X-Wings that had a semi-permanent place in the hangar because it was so old and battle-worn. He ran his hands over the peeling paint and the grooves in the metal. Kes liked the feeling under his fingers: it was comforting, like the feeling of calloused hands which reminded him of his mother.

It was a slow day on the Rebellion base in general. A couple of squadrons had been sent out on reconnaissance missions, but the sense of death-defying panic wasn't about today. Kes almost missed the sensation.

"Is this yours?"

He looked around him for the source of the female voice but saw no-one.

"Over here," said the voice again, this time sounding amused.

He peeked his head around the X-Wing and saw her, a young woman, smaller than average, sitting midway up the ladder that led up to the cockpit. Kes ducked under the nose of the fighter to come round and face her.

"Um, no," he said. "She's not mine."

Kes patted the plane affectionately nonetheless.

"She's a beauty, though, isn't she? She's only used for practice runs nowadays since she's been through a lot and then some."

"I only saw pictures of X-Wings growing up," said the young woman. "Seeing one up close, I get why my friend Bodhi loves them so much."

"Bodhi?" said Kes with surprise. "Bodhi Rook?"

He had met the young pilot only once, introduced by Shara as a promising young pilot for the Rebellion. Kes had shaken his hand and had been afraid he would break it, the responding grip had been so tenuous. Only after Shara had taken him aside later and told him about the pilot's life in the Empire had Kes fully understood.

"You're friends?" he asked.

She nodded, and suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks: Jyn Erso. _This_ must be Jyn Erso, _the_ Jyn Erso. Kes couldn't believe he had been so stupid, hadn't realised it earlier. He keenly felt the list in his pocket and recalled the words Cassian had used: ' _you'll know it's her because her eyes are flecked, like someone up above put stardust in them'._ Kes looked as closely as he dared without being intrusive. It seemed his friend had not been wrong. Stardust, indeed.

He held out a hand.

"I don't believe we've met yet," Kes said, straightening up so he'd look respectable. Not that Cassian would never forgive him if he didn't, but he'd rather not bait a sleeping lion.

She took it.

"Jyn Erso."

"Kes Dameron."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, jumping off the ladder so that she landed in front of him. "You're Kes Dameron, Shara Bey's husband?"

"The one and only," he replied. "Or at least, I hope I'm the one and only."

Jyn smiled, and Kes saw the crinkles reach up into the corners of her eyes.

"Oh, I certainly think you are," she said. Then she turned and nodded at the ship. "You're not a pilot like her though, am I right?"

"Well," he said. "I'd never say I'm not good behind the controls, but I'm not Shara, that's for sure."

"So..." she began tenuously. "You still know how to fly one of these things?"

Kes wanted to scoff. _Did he know how to fly one of these things?_

"Of course I do!" he said, grinning. "I don't think I could have stared Shara in the eye when I first asked her out if I couldn't!"

"Great," she said, suddenly snapping into a tone of determined business. "You can teach me how to fly it."

Kes wanted to hit himself over the head. For the _second time_ today, he hadn't seen the obvious coming.

"Oh, no," he said, swallowing hard. "I couldn't do that."

She cocked her head at him and narrowed her eyes. What was it that Cassian had said? ' _Could take you out with a glance...'_ and to think Kes had been audacious enough to laugh at him...

"Why not?" she said.

"We're not, um... I'm not qualified as an instructor," Kes said, wondering where all his common sense had gone. He'd blame the current lack of death-defying panic in his life. Yes, that was it.

"You're not qualified as an instructor?" said Jyn slowly. "Is that even -"

"You know what," he said, trying, desperately hoping that a solid save would appear in sight. "I'll go to command and see if I can get some clearance, how about that, hm?"

Jyn looked at him, eyebrows raised. She opened her mouth to speak -

"You just stay there," he said quickly. "And I'll be back in a second."

If Kes had ever walked so fast in his life, he couldn't remember it. He was out of the hangar, past the command rooms until he rounded a corner and dashed into a neat, if sparse, set of quarters.

The figure on the bed looked at him lazily when he entered.

"Jyn Erso," he said, out of breath. _Damn, maybe he needed to get to the gym more..._

Cassian Andor sat up, the most alert he'd looked all day.

"Jyn?" he said. "What is it? Is she -"

"She's fine," said Kes. "I just met her, and she asked me to teach her how to fly an X-Wing."

Cassian froze, and Kes used the pause as an opportunity to whip out the list from his pocket. If there was any time to be a drill sergeant, it was now.

"So damn well stop getting your mates to search for..." his eyes scanned the list, "Freshly cut flowers... and... cockpit freshener and just go out and bloody teach her how to fly the ship already!"

Cassian stared at him, and opened and shut his mouth once, then twice. Kes pointed at the door with aplomb.

"Go, Andor! Just go!"

His friend looked, just for a second, as though he was about to unfreeze before deciding instead on deflating.

"What if -"

"No!" said Kes dramatically, trying to channel Mon Mothma on a bad robe day. "She is there waiting for you, so go Cassian Andor or I swear I will tell everyone on base that codename you used that time on Naboo -"

The captain threw up his hands in defeat and began to stride towards the door.

"Okay, okay," he said, and Kes could hear the nervousness in his voice. "I'm... going. Yeah. I'm going. Yeah. Just - Kes?"

"Hm?"

"Please don't tell anyone that codename."

Kes grinned to himself as the door slid shut and he was left alone in Cassian's quarters. So Jyn Erso might think he was a bit weird when he didn't return, but on the upside...

He looked back down at the list.

 _A long range telescope to see the stars._

Well, perhaps he could help out a pal for a little bit longer.


End file.
